A member of the Sadr Movement told al-Hayat [Ar.] that Muqtada al-Sadr called up Jalal Talabani three days ago and warned him not to try to interfere with the United Iraqi alliance’s prerogative of naming cabinet ministers to powerful ministries.

A leader of the Sunni religious party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said Saturday that he opposed Jaafari’s candidacy because of his poor administration

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Shiite spiritual leader, is also calling for the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance to keep its solidarity, according to MP Jawad al-Maliki of the Da`wa Party.

Iraq the Model: Two Iraqi women hoping to tour the US have been refused visas. The US had killed their husbands and children. Jonathan Schwartz points to the Kafka-esque irony that the grounds for denying them entry was that they did not have enough close family back in Iraq to guarantee that they would want to return there.